A team of experts from the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) pad a visit to the Kalinin NPP with a support mission dedicated to advancing the shift briefings system and managerial supervision over the staff operations at their workstations.

The expert team comprised of the representatives of the Kozloduy NPP (Bulgaria), the Rivne NPP (Ukrain), the Rostov NPP (Russia), the Leningrad NPP (Russia), and the Moscow office of the WANO. The mission took place between July 29th and August 3, 2019 following the request from the plant itself.

Previously, the Moscow Office of the WANO held partnership verifications on the subjects in 2014 and 2018. Following the outcomes, the power plant was advised to update and to implement the required regulatory documents and instructions related to the staff training, to introduce a digital database, etc.

During this visit, the experts reviewed how the previous partnership verification recommendations were met, studied the technical documentation and the instructions, held interviews with the staff, and supervised the way briefings were held.

According to Evgeniy Kolesnichenko, the deputy chief engineer responsible for the Kalinin NPP staff training, a number of enhancements have been implemented at the plant in order to adjust the shift briefings’ system.

In particular, when completing hands-on assignment at full-scale simulators, the team perfects its skills related to training sessions before routine switching; besides, the operating staff regularly undertakes on-the-job trainings. There is also a knowledge base summarizing all the experience of managing the nuclear power companies in Russia and all over the globe, and all the Kalinin NPP employees have access to it.

‘The team of the Kalinin NPP has demonstrated their professionalism. The shift briefing at the unit control board that we supervised is a perfect example and can be used as a best practice for all other nuclear power plants in Russia’ Igor Goncharov, a representative of the Leningrad NPP, stated during the concluding meeting with the head of departments at the Kalinin NPP.

The recommendations and suggestions on the nuclear power plant operational improvements developed by the experts were submitted to the Kalinin NPP team along with the final report.